In the context of the Greenland issue, White House aide Stephen Miller was caught making an intellectual error:
“We live in a world, in the real world, Jake, that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power,” [White House aide Stephen Miller] said. “These are the iron laws of the world since the beginning of time.” [Deccan Herald]
How very Mencken of Miller. H. L. Mencken once said, or perhaps wrote,
For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.
Here, the question is How does the world work? Miller hasn’t thought this through, no doubt because it sounds so right to him.
But does he want to hire 24 hour bodyguards for himself and his family? Deal with kidnapped children?
The best societies agree to rules of law so that everyone can feel mildly safe. Defending all one values 24 hours a day means little or nothing else is accomplished. And many, many people die, leading to heartbreak and travail.
Someone needs to clout Miller upside the head, but I doubt it’d help.
